My Diy Pen Case

[JonSzanto]

After I had admired some personally crafted pen cases by FPN member BamaPen, he was very helpful in making some suggestions. My father liked to work on little projects, and I had inherited a couple of cigar boxes he had never gotten around to using, and I thought it would be another nice remembrance of him to keep my new little friends in a nice and protective case. I don't have a large collection (nor is it anything but modest in costs), but it has been fun putting these pens together over the last couple months, and now I have a nice place to store them on my desk.

 

The top tray contains the pens I actually use to write with, and (for the most part) the bottom tray contains the pens I'm using to test out new inks (multiple Preppys and Heros, a glass dip, etc).

 

Case closed:

 

 

Lid open, showing top tray:

 

 

Top tray - daily users:

 

 

Top tray lifted out, showing inner storage:

 

 

Inner tray - ink testing pens:

 

 

Again, thanks to BamaPen for the ideas and tips. I'm happy to have finished my little project, and feel like my pens now have a good home...

[Guest Subvet642]

Nicely done!

[BamaPen]

Very nicely done. Glad I could be of some help.

 

BamaPen

[SigmaZuiko]

Wow! I love how the wood looks. When I have time, I'll probably attempt a similar project

[PAKMAN]

Very nice! Good job!

[JefferyS]

Wonderful job. I have about 10 insect boxes (redwood) in the attic. I wonder if i can convert one of those.

[Merrib]

The satisfaction of doing it yourself makes it all the better.

Well done.

[French]

very nice pen case. Also, I saw some of the most popular pens on this board in the 'daily user' section: Phileas, TWSBI and Lamy Vista (OK, those were the only ones I immediately recognized). Enjoy your pens and case. Well done!

[Signum1]

Nice work! I use my cigar box to hold my cuff links.

[WOBentley]

Looks great and probably smells great too!

[JonSzanto]

Thanks for your comments, everyone! Sad to say, the cigar smell is long gone (I have no idea how long Dad had the box, and he wasn't a smoker). As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm still new to the FP world, and that box has been populated in the last three months - on 3/16/11, when I joined FPN, I had the Philieas and the Sheaffer Fashion (black) since 1990s. The rest have come since then, and virtually all through information gleaned here. Not high-end pens by any stretch, but a lot of enjoyable writing is coming out of them!

 

It's early, but Happy Father's Day to all it applies to. I'll remember Dad using a pen to ink a card for Mom.

[Black Rose]

Nicely done.

 

Where did you get the trays?

[CatBookMom]

Thanks for your comments, everyone! Sad to say, the cigar smell is long gone (I have no idea how long Dad had the box, and he wasn't a smoker). As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm still new to the FP world, and that box has been populated in the last three months - on 3/16/11, when I joined FPN, I had the Philieas and the Sheaffer Fashion (black) since 1990s. The rest have come since then, and virtually all through information gleaned here. Not high-end pens by any stretch, but a lot of enjoyable writing is coming out of them!

 

It's early, but Happy Father's Day to all it applies to. I'll remember Dad using a pen to ink a card for Mom.

 

 

That is so nicely done! The finished box looks very high quality and it must be satisfying to have completed a handsome project like this, as well as the box holding a good memory of your father along with the pens.

 

 

I don't mean to thread-jack this, but could you share any tips on how to get a smooth, even edge when you cut the molded plastic sheets? I've tried all of our sturdy cut-everything shears and I always have uneven edges. Plus, how do you decide where to cut if you have to split down the middle of a ripple?

[Judybug]

Beautiful! It feels so good to have pens all organized where they will be comfortable and happy.

 

Judybug

[JonSzanto]

And thanks again, friends. I'm away at the moment, and the wifi is dodgy here, so crossing my fingers...

 

As to the trays: I made them. The actual 'rippled' part of the tray is thin cardboard, folded somewhat like an accordion bellows. You mark some lines, making (in order) 2 narrow channels for every slightly wider one. It looks, from the side, sort of like the following:

 

__/\__/\__/\__/\__

 

The two narrow parts form the /\ fold, and then you have a wider place for the pen to sit. You start with a piece of cardboard a good bit wider than the area you want to cover, because as you fold it starts to shrink. Then it is glued down to something to hold it in place - in this case, the bottom one was just on more thin cardboard, and the upper tray glued to some foam core board. Then felt was cut, longer than the tray is wide, and spray adhesive was sprayed down and the felt was slowly laid in place, from one side moving to the other.

 

Two things come to mind:

 

1. This is a hell of a lot harder to describe than to do!

2. If I wanted to spend a couple bucks and cut WAY down on the labor, I'd just buy the trays and cut them to fit. But it was more a labor of love.

 

That's it!

[Kaweco Liliput]

Excellent job! Looks like just the thing I need, and my brother is a joiner so I may have to beg him to make me something like this for Christmas